Pearl Likes Pie
by Gemology
Summary: Pearl has always liked pie. But there is a dark secret about pie that she can never reveal.
1. Chapter 1

Pearl liked pie. She loved baking, and the smell of baked goods. She loved measuring ingredients, pouring exact amounts to make a perfect fluffy creation. There was nothing quite like smoothing over a cup of flour, or impeccably stirring together ingredients into an expertly blended masterpiece. Pearl even liked the _taste_ of pie.

But Pearl's one flaw was that she hated eating. She hated the thought of swallowing anything. If she had been human, with human organs and a human stomach, eating would have repulsed her so much she would vomit any time she tried. Luckily, while putting food in her mouth _was_ disgusting, she did not have a stomach or gag reflex while in her normally chosen form, which, if she had the same feelings while in a human body, would force a person to throw up.

On the other hand, Pearl liked the taste of pie. She liked how ingredients blended together, into an amazing collection of flavors. Mixing different things together created different smells, different textures, different flavors! Cooking truly was a science, and an art – two things which Pearl loved.

Taste buds were an intriguing part of the human anatomy. It was so interesting how humans could enjoy the miraculous taste of the mixing of flavors, that created a multitude of feelings. It was fascinating that tastes and smells could help inspire memories of times past, or how the simplest of recipes could bring on intense emotions. If only eating and chewing and digesting and – _everything else_ – wasn't so vile!


	2. Chapter 2

Pearl's battle with food had been a struggle ever since she had come to Earth. At first, she hadn't even known about the existence of food. But, as soon as Amethyst had discovered it, Pearl was unable to escape from it. "Pearl, try this!" and "Pearl, try that!" was all she'd heard for years. It had been a few thousand years since that time, but Amethyst continued to be attracted to food, while Pearl had never been able to get over her squeamishness of the process of digestion.

It wasn't until she was exposed to baking that removing food from her life became even more difficult. Of course, early man's version of baking was primitive and of little interest. It wasn't until fire, and much later ovens, were invented, that Pearl actually began experimenting with eatables.

Of course, much as she tried, Pearl was unable to test out her own creations. Amethyst wasn't much of a good judge, as she would eat just about anything – including things that weren't food in the first place. Garnet didn't dislike eating, but she didn't have any interest in it either.

Not only did Pearl dislike swallowing or eating food, she didn't like putting it in her mouth. If she put it in her mouth, she had two options: spit it out, or swallow it. Either way, it was going to turn into mush, and mush was unpleasant. Spitting was gross, and swallowing was gross. So, no matter what Pearl made, she struggled with the fact that she was unable to personally know how good her fare was. Not only that, but much as she hated chewing and swallowing, she still liked tasting – just not the whole mush part.


	3. Chapter 3

When Steven had first asked Pearl about her pie preferences, she excitedly replied, "I do like pie!" with a bright smile on her face. But thinking about pie made her think about eating, and her inability to do it, and her constant love/hate relationship with food. The rest of the day she was bothered with thoughts of it, and for many weeks after.

Pearl had tried unsuccessfully to cut food out of her life. Of course, she soon learned that that was impossible with Amethyst around. Even requiring Amethyst to store food in her own room hadn't worked, since every time Pearl saw her she was always munching on something different, including when she walked from her room into the temple.

Not only that, but the fact remained that cooking was an art form. Pearl couldn't resist doing anything and everything perfectly that she possibly could. But how could she know if her cooking was perfect if she could never taste it?! The struggle to be for or against vittles was almost maddening. How could one activity be so relaxing, and yet so stressful at the same time?

There was something so satisfying about reading a recipe, and carefully measuring everything to be exactly as it was written. Whether it was smooth cookie dough, or creamy potato salad, whatever Pearl cooked never failed to come out exactly as the recipe picture depicted it. But there was never anyone around to appreciate her delectable works.


	4. Chapter 4

Deep inside herself Pearl hid this struggle. She hid it from Amethyst, and Garnet, and even Rose. Of course, when she had first started trying food when Amethyst brought it around, they were all made clearly aware just how much Pearl hated eating. But they never realized how intense Pearl's feeling were about pie.

For thousands of years, ever since early man began making food, did Pearl carry this burden. It was a weight on her shoulders during battle, for she knew that the battle within could never be won. When she was inside her gem healing, sometimes she did not want to come out – because she knew coming out meant facing her food strife.

And so, internally, there was one enemy that Pearl could not defeat. One contention she could not win. Even of all the times she fought with Amethyst, there was never a time she fought so hard as when she fought with her own self. No argument with Amethyst could compare to the argument raging inside herself.

It was a fight that Pearl would carry even to the grave. One day, when her gem became cracked and irreparable, as she dissipated into becoming part of the universe itself, she would look back on her life. She would think about all the things she could have eaten. She would think about all the pies that went untasted. She would think on how much mush would have been created if she had eaten all the things she created. She would briefly think about all the mush that Amethyst had created in her lifetime, and then immediately regret that thought.

And yet, even to the end, Pearl would be disgusted with eating. But Pearl would still like pie.


End file.
